Responsibilities and Credentials

Health care staffing establishes tiered pricing based on the credentials required for each personnel category and an experience range within it, along with the demands of the position a staffer fills in accepting an assignment. How much a nurse, physician, pharmacist or other professional commands for each billable unit of work time also depends on how plentiful or scarce qualified candidates become, which varies for seasonal reasons or because of the desirability of an individual assignment. Furthermore, pricing takes into consideration the rates and salaries paid to permanent staff in the location and settings equivalent to the jobs for which you supply candidates. It also considers competitors' rates for comparable work.

Contract or Job-Specific Factors

Long contracts with high-volume customers may qualify for rate reductions that recognize the value of an ongoing relationship. Emergency assignments, especially those on extremely short notice, can increase pricing to accommodate the challenges of matching candidates with the demands of the job. Location, shift assignments, special responsibilities and duties also may necessitate pricing adjustments. Specific clients may offer more or less desirable postings, which in turn may point to the need for incentives to attract suitable candidates.

Most Favored Customer

Some customers, notably government agencies, demand most favored customer rates that reflect the best pricing you offer to any individual client. The volume of work may offset the price reduction such customers expect, but when you establish overall rate scales, you must take the prospect of favored rates into consideration as the floor below which your rates don't drop. Some most favored customer contracts mandate a justification of the rates you present based on the costs you establish for other clients on comparable contracts.

Costs and Pricing Considerations

The unit costs you charge your customers -- hourly, per diem or otherwise -- must cover all the costs you engender in providing staffing services. Some agencies add a fixed percentage to the rates they pay their contractors, based on complex calculations that include profit, overhead, liability coverage and other forms of insurance, recruitment costs, taxes and additional required costs. State-specific requirements, such as the need to incorporate workers' compensation coverage into the overall fee, can play a role in determining the costs that fold into markup calculations. If you participate in a vendor management software network, some of your pricing considerations must fit within the demands of the system, which can erode your margins because of price competition with other agencies within the network.

About the Author

Elizabeth Mott has been a writer since 1983. Mott has extensive experience writing advertising copy for everything from kitchen appliances and financial services to education and tourism. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in English from Indiana State University.